Display of software notes accessed by content recipient from content provider site

ABSTRACT

First program code is executed at a content recipient so as to identify a content provider having posted content of interest to the content recipient. Second program code is executed at the content recipient so as to automatically access the content provider and initiate receipt by the content recipient of the posted content.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 09/821,202, filedMar. 29, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,415 now allowed, the disclosureof which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an arrangement which allows softwarenotes posted at a content provider site to be accessed by a contentrecipient.

BACKGROUND

Network enabled devices such as computers, televisions, personal digitalassistants, telephones, games, etc. are currently used to accessinformation and applications from remote sites over internal andexternal networks. An example of an external network which offersinformation and applications is the Internet. Sites that offer suchinformation and applications are typically referred to as contentproviders, and the users of network enabled devices that permit theremote access of the information and applications are typically referredto as content recipients.

The applications offered by content providers include e-commerceapplications which allow content recipients to purchase or sell productsand/or services, bidding applications which allow content recipients tobid on products and/or services, reverse bidding applications whichallow content recipients to accept bids for products and/or services,stock trading applications, and the like. Information offered by contentproviders include database information, advertisements, bulletin boardinformation, and the like.

Information and/or applications are usually disseminated to contentrecipients who access content providers in response to specific requestsfor the information and/or applications. One of the problems with thisapproach is that the content recipient must often navigate through anextensive web page and/or many web pages to focus in on the desiredinformation and/or applications.

In some instances, this problem can be avoided by automaticallydisseminating the information and/or applications from the contentproviders to the content recipients. For example, a content recipientwho wishes to receive notices of new product or service offerings mayrequest the retailer to automatically send notices of such offerings tothe content recipient. Thus, the retailer may send an e-mail, forexample, to the content recipient for each new offering.

One problem with this practice is that the identity of the contentrecipient is known to the content provider. Thus, the content providercan provide the content recipient's identity to other content providerswho may then provide the content recipient with communications that thecontent recipient may not wish to receive.

The present invention overcomes one or more of these or other problems.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the present invention, a method is performed at acontent recipient and comprises the following: executing first programcode at the content recipient so as to receive content from a contentprovider; and, executing second program code at the content recipient soas to display the content behind a session if the session is active.

In another aspect of the present invention, a computer readable storagemedium stores program code which, when executed by a computing device,performs the following functions: automatically initiating a request toreceive content from a content provider; receiving the content from thecontent provider in response to the request; and, displaying the contentbehind a session if the session is active.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method comprises thefollowing: executing first program code at a content provider so as topost content for access by a content recipient; and, executing secondprogram code at the content recipient so as to automatically (i) accessthe content provider, (ii) initiate receipt by the content recipient ofthe posted content, (iii) receive the posted content, and (iv) displaythe posted content behind a session if the session is active.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages will become more apparent from adetailed consideration of the invention when taken in conjunction withthe drawing in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an arrangement which provides an exemplaryenvironment for the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary web page which may be provided by one ormore of the content providers shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary note delivered to a content recipientcontaining information posted by a content provider who also providesthe exemplary web page shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of program code that may be executed by thecontent recipients of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a representation of a screen display showing a notifieraccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a representation of a screen display showing newly postedcontent burning through an active session so as to be displayed to acontent recipient;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of program code that may be executed by thecontent providers of FIG. 1; and,

FIGS. 8-11 show various methods that may be implemented in accordancewith the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An arrangement 10 which supports the present invention is illustrated inFIG. 1. The arrangement 10 includes content providers 12A, 12B, 12C, . .. , 12 n and content recipients 14A, 14B, 14C, . . . , 14 ninterconnected by a network 16 such as the Internet. Each of the contentproviders 12A, 12B, 12C, . . . , 12 n may be one or more serversoperated by a web site provider, an Internet service provider, a searchengine provider, etc. As such, the content providers 12A, 12B, 12C, . .. , 12 n offer content that may be transmitted to the content recipients14A, 14B, 14C, . . . , 14 n over the network 16. Each of the contentrecipients 14A, 14B, 14C, . . . , 14 n may be one or more networkenabled devices operated by a user such as a consumer, a business, aneducational or governmental institution, a web site, etc.

In accordance with the present invention, one or more of the contentproviders 12A, 12B, 12C, . . . , 12 n may carry web pages such as a webpage 20 shown in FIG. 2. The web page 20 is meant to be exemplary onlyand may have any other format as desired. The web page 20 as shown inFIG. 2 has a plurality of elements such as a note 22, which may be aSoftware Post-it Note® provided by 3M, an advertising banner 24, agraphic 26, and text 28. The web page 20 may be provided by the contentprovider who posts the web page 20, or the web page 20 may be providedby third parties who may or may not pay the content provider to offerthe web page 20. Alternatively, third parties may or may not pay thecontent provider to simply add material to the content provider's ownweb page. As is known, re-direct URLs may be embedded in the advertisingbanner 24, the graphic 26, and/or the text 28 in order to re-direct thecontent recipient to other web pages posted by the content provider whoposts the web page 20 or to the web pages of other content providers.

An example of the note 22 is shown in more detail in FIG. 3. The note 22includes a title bar 40 which may carry a general title such as “Note”or a more specific title indicative of the product, service, and/orinformation offered by the note 22. A pull down menu icon 42 may also bepresent in the title bar 40 and, when clicked on, offers the contentrecipient with a choice of options such as alarm set, alarm reset, alarmunset, minimize/maximize, move to attachment container (memo board),move to trash, send note to another content recipient, and various noteproperties such as font, picture, color, etc. The note 22 also includesa display area 44 in which a graphic 46, text 48, and/or other materialmay be provided.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the text 48 includes a URL 50. The URL 50 ispreferably, but not necessarily, a live URL. The text 48 in the exampleof FIG. 3 offers tickets to a game to the content recipient. Assumingthat the URL 50 is a live URL, the content recipient need only click onthe URL 50 to initiate a function such as purchase of a ticket. Clickingon the URL 50 may be arranged, for example, to direct the contentrecipient to the web site of a third party in order to purchase thetickets. Alternatively, clicking on the URL 50 may be arranged to returnthe content recipient to the content provider posting the web page 20 inorder to permit the content recipient to purchase the tickets. As afurther alternative, clicking on the URL 50 may be arranged to initiatethe automatic purchase of the tickets, using previously provided paymentand mailing instructions, from either the content provider providing thenote 22, or from another web site coupled with the URL 50, or otherwise.

As suggested above, the note 22 may have other designs. For example, thenote 22 need not include the URL 50 as an element thereof. Instead, thenote 22 when received by the content recipient through a connectionalready established by the content recipient may instead include a boxor other area which may be clicked on in order to begin the ticketpurchase. This box or other area may contain a link to other web pagesof the content provider or to a web page of a third party contentprovider so as to appropriately process the ticket purchase. As afurther alternative, the link to the other web pages of the contentprovider or to the web page of the third party content provider may beprovided as an option in the pull down menu accessed through the pulldown menu icon 42.

The note 22 may be automatically accessed by a content recipient inaccordance with the flow chart shown in FIG. 4. This flow chartrepresents a program 60 that is executed by the content recipient'snetwork enabled device. The program 60 may be downloaded over thenetwork 16 from a content provider to the content recipient whenever thecontent recipient accesses the content provider's web site andappropriately expresses a desire to automatically receive futureofferings from the content provider. Moreover, the program 60 may bearranged to universally provide the same functions with respect to othercontent providers. Instead of downloading the program 60 over thenetwork 16 from a content provider to the content recipient, the program60 may be supplied to the content recipient on a disc or other memorydevice permitting the content recipient to load the program 60 into thecontent recipient's web enabled device.

Execution of the program 60 may be automatically initiated, for example,each time that the content recipient starts the content recipient'snetwork enabled device or accesses the network 16 through the contentrecipient's network enabled device. Accordingly, each time that theprogram 60 is started, a block 62 of the program 60 identifies andinterrogates the content provider associated with the program 60 andfrom whom the content recipient wishes to download new information,product offerings, service offerings, or other content. The block 62 maybe arranged to target a single identified content provider or may bearranged to cycle through more than one identified content provider. Forexample, the identity of such content provider or content providers maybe manually supplied to the program 60 by the content recipient at anytime during the content recipient's use of the program 60.Alternatively, the identity of a specific content provider may beassociated with that instance of the program 60 which is downloaded fromthat content provider by the content recipient. As a furtheralternative, the content recipient may have entered several contentproviders which the block 62 presents to the content recipient on asuitable display and requests the content recipient to select one of thelisted content providers during each pass through the program 60.

The block 62, in any case, may be arranged to formulate and transmit amessage to a content provider requesting any new content, which may bein the form of one or more notes such as the note 22, that have beenposted on the content provider's web page 20 since the lastinterrogation.

The program 60 at a block 64 then determines whether the contentrecipient has received an indication from the interrogated contentprovider that the interrogated content provider has newly posted contentthat may be of interest to the content recipient. Such newly postedcontent may be in the form of one or more instances of the note 22 whichhave been newly posted by the content provider. If the content recipienthas received an indication from the interrogated content provider thatthe interrogated content provider has no newly posted content that maybe of interest to the content recipient, or if the content recipientreceives no response within a predetermined time period, the program 60at a block 66 displays a message asking the content recipient whetherthe content recipient wishes to cancel the current interrogation. If thecontent recipient wishes to cancel the current interrogation, theprogram 60 ends. On the other hand, if the content recipient does notwish to cancel the current interrogation, program flow returns to theblock 62 where either the same content provider or a different contentprovider is interrogated.

If the content recipient has received an indication from theinterrogated content provider that the interrogated content providerdoes have newly posted content that may be of interest to the contentrecipient as determined at the block 64, a block 68 determines whetherthe content recipient's network enabled device has the softwarenecessary to display the content. For example, where the content is inthe form of one or more instances of the note 22, the block 68determines whether the content recipient's network enabled device hasthe software necessary to display the notes. This note displayingsoftware is currently available from 3M. If the content recipient'snetwork enabled device does not have the software necessary to displaythe content, a block 70 requests the download of the content displaysoftware either from the content provider being interrogated or fromanother content provider and installs the downloaded content displaysoftware when received.

When the content display software is installed at the block 70, or ifthe block 68 determines that the network enabled device of the contentrecipient already has the content display software, the program 60 at ablock 72 requests download of the newly posted content of interest. Theprogram 60 at a block 74 then determines whether the newly postedcontent of interest has been received. If the block 74 determines thatthe newly posted content of interest has not been received within apredetermined amount of time, a block 76 causes the display of a messagenotifying the content recipient of the failure to receive the newlyposted content of interest and program flow then returns to the block66.

On the other hand, if the block 74 determines that the newly postedcontent has been received, a block 78 provides a notifier to the contentrecipient that the newly posted content of interest has been received.This notifier may take several different forms. For example, thenotifier may be the content itself which is immediately displayed to thecontent recipient as the top active layer of any applications that thecontent recipient has running on the content recipient's network enableddevice. Alternatively, the notifier may be a window or an icon or othersymbol which is displayed in a tool bar, a title bar, inside a windowframe, or at any other suitable location, as an indication to thecontent recipient that newly posted content has been received. In thislatter case, the content may be received and stored in temporary memoryand may be displayed upon suitable activation of the notifier at a block80. For example, the content provider may click on the notifier in orderto display the content.

An exemplary notifier 82 of this alternative type is shown in FIG. 5 andis made to appear on a screen display such as a screen display 84 shownin FIG. 6, where the notifier 82 appears over a desktop. Although notshown in FIG. 6, if the notifier 82 is displayed as a window or icon ata predetermined location on the display, and if one or more windows arelayered over this predetermined location, the notifier 82 isautomatically displayed as a top most layer so that it is visible to thecontent recipient even though another application currently has thefocus (i.e., is active).

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the notifier 82 has two portions. A firstportion 82 _(a) is a symbol generally representing a pad of notes suchas the note 22 shown in FIG. 3. A second portion 82 _(b) is a symbolgenerally representing a personal computer displaying a note square. Thefirst and/or second portion 82 _(a) and/or 82 _(b) may be made to flashin order to indicate that a note has been received and has not beenopened by the content recipient. Also, the first and/or second portion82 _(a) and/or 82 _(b) may have other locations such as in the systemtray, in the system tool bar, in the application bar, etc.

When the content recipient activates the notifier 82 at the block 80, ablock 88 of the program 60 determines whether there is an active sessionbeing performed by the content recipient. An active session, forexample, may be an application which has the focus of the contentrecipient. If there is an active session as determined at the block 88,and if the active session is displayed in an area of the screen displayto be occupied by the content when the content is made to appear uponactivation of the notifier 82, the program 60 at a block 90 uses thecontent display software discussed above in order to burn the contentthrough the active session being displayed.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, when the notifier 82 is activated, the note 22is made to appear in a predetermined portion of the screen display 84which happens to be partially occupied by a window 92. Accordingly, thewindow 92 is burned so that a border 94 is provided around the note 22.The border 94 allows whatever is in a layer below the window 92 to seenthrough the border 94 around the note 22. Thus, the note 22 burnsthrough the window 92 to expose a portion of the layer below the window92.

In FIG. 6, the only layer below the window 92 is a desktop. Therefore, aportion of the desktop may be seen through the border 94. However, if asecond window is layered below the window 92, a portion of this secondlayer, instead of a portion of the desktop, would then be exposedthrough the border 94. Alternatively, the note 22 may be arranged toburn through all layers between it and the desktop.

If there is no active session as determined by the block 80, or after aburn through is provided by the block 90, a block 98 causes the newlyposted content of interest to be displayed within the burn through onthe display of the content recipient's network enabled device. Thus, asshown in FIG. 6, the note 22 is displayed within the burn throughportion of the window 92. Thereafter, a block 100 determines whether anattachment location is identified such as by the content recipient. Ifan attachment location is identified, the received content is attachedto the identified location at a block 102.

The attachment location may be identified by clicking a cursor over alocation to which the received content is to be attached. Alternatively,the attachment location can be a predetermined location within a windowthat is open and is active at the time that the received content is madeto appear on the screen display. As a further alternative, when thereceived content first appears on the display screen of the contentrecipient's network enabled device, the received content may beun-attached. However, when the received content is dragged and droppedat a new location, it automatically attaches to the window or desktopunder the cursor at the time of dropping. As a still furtheralternative, by clicking a first time on the received content and asecond time at a desired location, the received content can be attachedto the desired location as indicated by the cursor at the time of thesecond click.

Attachment may have one or more of the following attributes: thereceived content is made to appear whenever the location to which it isattached is made to appear or is visible; the received content is madeto disappear whenever the location to which it is attached is made todisappear or is not visible; the received content is made to movewhenever the location to which it is attached is moved, such as byscrolling or otherwise; the received content is automaticallyde-attached from a first location and re-attached to a second locationwhenever the received content is dragged from the first location anddropped at the second location; and/or the received document can bede-attached from one area of a display, such as a first window, and canbe re-attached to a second area of the display, such as a second window.Attachment may have different attributes as well so that the attributeslisted above are meant to be exemplary only.

The attachment location can be a calendar, an address book, a window, adocument, a desktop, etc.

If an attachment location is not identified as determined at the block100 or after the received content is attached at the block 102, programflow returns to the block 66.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of program code that may be executed by thecontent providers of FIG. 1 in order to provide posted content ofinterest to the content recipient. This flow diagram represents aprogram 110 that is executed by a corresponding server of a contentprovider. When the program 110 is running, a block 112 of the program110 receives a new content request from a content recipient. Asdiscussed above, this new content may be in the form of notes such asthe note 22. The new content request contains a unique identification ofthe content recipient's network enabled device. This identification neednot, and preferably does not, identify the content recipient. Thus, theidentification is only sufficient to determine which content, if any,has been previously supplied by the content provider to the requestingcontent recipient.

A block 114, determines whether the identification received at the block112 was contained in a previous request. If not, a block 116 selects allcurrently posted content as the content to be sent to the contentrecipient, and a block 118 sends the selected content to the contentrecipient.

If the block 114 determines that the identification received at theblock 112 was contained in a previous request, a block 120 determineswhether any new content has been posted on the content provider's serversince the previous request of the requesting content recipient. If not,a block 122 selects a null message indicating that there is no newcontent. The block 118 sends this message to the content recipient'snetwork enabled device, which may display this message to the contentrecipient as desired.

If the block 120 determines that new content has been posted on thecontent provider's server since the previous request of the contentrecipient, a block 124 notifies the content recipient's network enableddevice that there is new content. If a block 126 determines that adelivery request has been received from that the content recipient'snetwork enabled device in response to the notification sent by the block124, a block 128 selects only the content that has been posted since thecontent recipient's last request, and the block 118 sends the contentselected at the block 128. On the other hand, if the block 126determines that a delivery request has not been received from that thecontent recipient's network enabled device, the block 122 selects thenull message described above, and the block 118 sends this null messageto the content recipient's network enabled device.

A delivery request might not be received from the content recipient'snetwork enabled device if, for example, there has been a networkfailure. A delivery request might also not be received from the contentrecipient's network enabled device if there has been as machine shutdown. For example, because many of the operations performed by contentrecipient's network enabled device in executing the program 60 arebackground tasks, the content recipient might be unaware that a note isbeing sent to the content recipient's network enabled device and mayinadvertently shutdown the device during process of receiving a note.Alternatively, the content recipient might shutdown while receiving anote because of time constraints. In these circumstances, the nullmessage sent to the content recipient indicates that the process had notfinished.

After the content selected at the block 116 has been sent at the block118, or after the null message selected at the block 122 has been sentat the block 118, or after the content selected at the block 128 hasbeen sent at the block 118, the program 110 waits for the next request.

These or similar features of the present invention can be used in anumber of different business models. For example, as shown in FIG. 8,the note 22 may be newly posted by a content provider 130 acting as afirst party. A content recipient 132 performs an activity related to thenote, such as accessing or acquiring the note through use of the program60, where the content recipient 132 is a second party. The contentprovider 130 provides payment to a payee 134 based upon the activityperformed by the content recipient 132. In an example of this model, thepayee 134 may have provided something of value to the content provider130 that the content provider 130 is offering on its web site, and thecontent provider 130 has agreed to pay a fee to the payee 134. The feemay be a flat fee, or the fee may be paid each time that the contentrecipient 132 accesses that content, makes a purchase, or otherwiseprovides something of value in return for the content, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 9, the note 22 may be newly posted by a contentprovider 136 acting as a first party. A content recipient 138 performsan activity related to the note, such as acquiring the note through useof the program 60, where the content recipient 138 is a second party.Payment for the activity is provided to the content provider 136 by apayer 140. In an example of this model, the content provider 136 may bea surrogate host for content provided by the payer 140, and the payer140 pays a fee to the content recipient 136 for this service. The feemay be a flat fee, or the fee may be paid each time that the contentrecipient 102 accesses the content, makes a purchase, or otherwiseprovides something of value in return for the content, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 10, the note 22 may be newly posted by a contentprovider 142 acting as a first party. A content recipient 144 performsan activity related to the note, such as acquiring the note through useof the program 60, where the content recipient 144 is a second party.The content posted by the content provider 142 is supplied to thecontent provider 142 by a content supplier 146. Payment is made by thecontent supplier 146 to a payee 148. In an example of this model, thepayee 148 may be a creditor or a financial backer of the contentprovider 142 or a facilitator of the overall process, and the contentsupplier 146 may be providing payment because the content posted by thecontent provider 142 advertises products and/or services of the contentsupplier 146. As another example of this model, the payee 148 may haveprovided some portion of the content supplied to the content provider142 by the content supplier 146 and the content supplier 146 provides afee to the payee 146 for that portion.

Indeed, other fees may be exchanged between the various parties. Forexample, the content supplier 146 may also provide a fee to the contentprovider 142 for hosting the content supplied by the content supplier146. Any of these fees may be any combination of the following: a flatfee; a fee that is paid each time that the content recipient 102accesses the content; a fee that is paid each time that the contentrecipient 102 makes a purchase; a fee that is paid each time that thecontent recipient 102 otherwise provides something of value in returnfor the content; etc.

As shown in FIG. 11, the note 22 may be newly posted by a contentprovider 150 acting as a first party. A content recipient 152 performsan activity related to the note, such as acquiring the note through useof the program 60, where the content recipient 152 is a second party.The content posted by the content provider 150 is supplied to thecontent provider 150 by a content supplier 154. Payment is made by thecontent provider 150 to a payee 156. In an example of this model, thepayee 156 may be a creditor or a financial backer of the contentsupplier 154 or a facilitator of the overall process, and the contentprovider 150 has agreed to pay a fee to the payee 156. The fee may be aflat fee or may be paid each time that the content recipient 152accesses that content, makes a purchase or otherwise provides somethingof value in return based upon that content, or the like. As in the caseof FIG. 10, other fees could also be paid in the business model of FIG.11.

Other revenue options are also possible. For example, payment may bebased upon the number of subscribers (content recipients) who requestthe automatic dissemination of notes from a content provider asdescribed above in connection with FIGS. 1-7. As another example,payment may be required for the download of the program 60 to thecontent recipient's network enabled device. As still another example,payment may be required from the subscriber (content recipient) for theautomatic dissemination of notes as described above in connection withFIGS. 1-7.

Accordingly, the present invention enables a content recipient toreceive content in the form of the note 22 or otherwise without the needfor the content recipient to provide his or her identity to the contentprovider. In this way, the privacy of the content recipient is assuredand the content provider cannot disclose the content recipient'sidentity to others such as other content providers. If the contentrecipient no longer wishes to receive notes, the content recipient needonly deactivate the program 60.

Certain modifications of the present invention have been discussedabove. Other modifications will occur to those practicing in the art ofthe present invention. For example, the note 22 is shown above inconnection with the ordering of ticket. However, the note 22 may beprovided in connection with any other types of activities such asaccessing or acquiring the note 22, making purchases of products and/orservices, performing banking transactions, making bids, making reversebids, performing searches, requesting or providing information,performing stock or other financial related transactions, downloadingsoftware, accessing media of various types, performing pluralinteractions through the same note 22, redeeming a coupon, printing acoupon etc.

Moreover, as described above, newly posted content in the form of thenote 22 is displayed on a content recipient's network enabled devicewithin a burn through of the active session 88. Alternatively, insteadof burning the note 22 through the active session 88, the note 22 maysimply be displayed as a top layer having the focus. As a furtheralternative, the note 22 may be displayed as a top layer automaticallyupon receipt of the content or dependent upon the subject matter of thenote 22 or upon an identity of the content provider or upon a useraction.

Also, as described above, newly posted content in the form of the note22 is burned through the active session 88 if the notifier is suitablyactivated at the block 80. Alternatively, newly posted content in theform of the note 22 may burn through the active session 88 automaticallyupon receipt of the content without the activation of the notifier. As afurther alternative, newly posted content in the form of the note 22 mayautomatically burn through the active session 88 dependent upon thesubject matter of the note or upon an identity of the content provider.

Furthermore, payment may be made based upon the following activities:placing an order, making a purchase, performing a banking transaction,making a bid, making a reverse bid, performing a search, requesting orproviding information, performing a stock related transaction,downloading software, accessing media, etc. Payment may be also basedupon a level (such as amount) of the relevant activity, upon receipt ofthe note by the content recipient, upon any type of interaction with thenote by the content recipient such as clicking on the note by thecontent recipient, and/or upon any other interest in the note asexpressed by the content recipient. Also, payment may be based uponcombinations of the above activities. Additionally, if a contentprovider posts a plurality of notes, payment may be made based upon eachposted note.

In addition, the notifier as described above is a visual notifier.However, the notifier may be an audible notifier instead of a visualnotifier.

Moreover, as described above, the web page 20 is shown in FIG. 2 ascontaining the note 22. However, instead of, or in addition to, the note22, the web page 20 can be arranged to contain a button or icon or otherarea offering a subscription to the information contained in the note22. If the content recipient viewing the web page 20 elects to become asubscriber such as by activating the button or icon or other area orotherwise, the note 22 will be supplied to the content recipient such asin accordance with FIGS. 4 and 7.

Accordingly, the description of the present invention is to be construedas illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled inthe art the best mode of carrying out the invention. The details may bevaried substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention,and the exclusive use of all modifications which are within the scope ofthe appended claims is reserved.

1. A method performed at a content recipient comprising: executing firstprogram code at the content recipient so as to receive content from acontent provider; executing second program code at the content recipientso as to display the content behind a session if the session is active;and, executing third program code at the content recipient so as tovisibly display the content to a user by automatically burning thecontent through the session without changing focus on the session. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the content is automatically burnedthrough the session upon receipt of the content.
 3. The method of claim1 wherein the content is automatically burned through the sessiondependent upon subject matter of the content.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein the content is automatically burned through the sessiondependent upon an identity of the content provider.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the content is immediately burned through the sessionupon receipt of the content.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein thecontent is burned through the session in response to a user action.
 7. Acomputer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage mediumstoring program code which, when executed by a computing device,performs the following automatic functions: initiating a request toreceive content from a content provider; receiving the content from thecontent provider in response to the request; and, displaying the contentbehind a session if the session is active.
 8. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 7 wherein execution of the program code performsthe additional function of burning the content through the session sothat the content is displayed to a user.
 9. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 7 wherein execution of the program code performsthe additional function of layering the content over the session so thatthe content is displayed to a user.
 10. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 7 wherein execution of the program code performs theadditional function of displaying a notifier over the session even ifthe session is active, and wherein the notifier indicates that thecontent is available for display.
 11. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 10 wherein execution of the program code performs theadditional function of burning the content through the session inresponse to a notifier related action.
 12. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 10 wherein execution of the program code performs theadditional function of layering the content over the session in responseto a notifier related action.
 13. The computer readable storage mediumof claim 10 wherein the notifier is an icon.
 14. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 7 wherein the computer electronically receivesthe program code and stores the program code on the computer readablestorage medium.
 15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7wherein execution of the program code performs the additional functionof visibly displaying the content to a user by automatically burning thecontent through the session.
 16. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 15 wherein the content is burned through the session automaticallyupon receipt of the content.
 17. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 15 wherein the content is burned through the session automaticallydependent upon subject matter of the content.
 18. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 15 wherein the content is burned through thesession automatically dependent upon an identity of the contentprovider.
 19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 whereinthe content is burned through the session immediately upon receipt ofthe content provider.
 20. The computer readable storage medium of claim15 wherein the content is burned through the session in response to auser action.
 21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 whereinexecution of the program code performs the additional function ofvisibly displaying the content to a user by automatically layering thecontent over the session.
 22. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 21 wherein the content is layered over the session automaticallyupon receipt of the content.
 23. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 21 wherein the content is layered over the session automaticallydependent upon subject matter of the content.
 24. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 21 wherein the content is layered over thesession automatically dependent upon an identity of the contentprovider.
 25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 whereinthe content is layered over the session immediately upon receipt of thecontent provider.
 26. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21wherein the content is layered over the session in response to a useraction.
 27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 whereinexecution of the program code performs the additional function ofattaching the content to an attachment site automatically upon receiptof the content.
 28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27wherein the attachment site is a calendar.
 29. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 27 wherein the attachment site is an addressbook.
 30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27 wherein theattachment site is a window.
 31. The computer readable storage medium ofclaim 27 wherein the attachment site is a document.
 32. The computerreadable storage medium of claim 27 wherein the attachment site is adesktop.
 33. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 whereinexecution of the program code performs the additional function ofdisplaying a notifier, and wherein the notifier indicates that thecontent is available for display.
 34. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 33 wherein the notifier comprises a visual notifier. 35.The computer readable storage medium of claim 33 wherein the notifiercomprises an audible notifier.
 36. A method comprising: executing firstprogram code at a content provider so as to post content for access by acontent recipient; and, executing second program code at the contentrecipient so as to automatically (i) access the content provider, (ii)initiate receipt by the content recipient of the posted content, (iii)receive the posted content, and (iv) display the posted content behind asession if the session is active.
 37. The method of claim 36 furthercomprising executing third program code at the content recipient so asto burn the content through the session in order to visibly display thecontent to a user.
 38. The method of claim 36 further comprisingexecuting third program code at the content recipient so as to layer thecontent over the session in order to visibly display the content to auser.
 39. The method of claim 36 further comprising executing thirdprogram code at the content recipient so as to display a notifier overthe session even if the session is active, wherein the notifierindicates that the content is available for display.
 40. The method ofclaim 39 further comprising executing fourth program code at the contentrecipient so as to burn the content through the session upon selectionof the notifier in order to visibly display the content.
 41. The methodof claim 39 further comprising executing fourth program code at thecontent recipient so as to layer the content over the session uponselection of the notifier in order to visibly display the content. 42.The method of claim 39 wherein the notifier is an icon.
 43. The methodof claim 39 further comprising executing third program code at thecontent recipient so as to visibly display the content to a user byautomatically burning the content through the session.
 44. The method ofclaim 39 further comprising executing third program code at the contentrecipient so as to visibly display the content to a user byautomatically layering the content over the session.
 45. The method ofclaim 39 further comprising executing third program code at the contentrecipient so as to attach the content to an attachment siteautomatically upon receipt of the content.
 46. The method of claim 39further comprising executing third program code at the content recipientso as to display a notifier, wherein the notifier indicates that thecontent is available for display.
 47. The method of claim 46 wherein thenotifier comprises a visual notifier.
 48. The method of claim 46 whereinthe notifier comprises an audible notifier.
 49. Program code stored on acomputer readable memory which, when executed, performs the followingfunctions: receiving a note from a content provider, wherein the note isattached to a web page of the content provider, wherein the notecontains content, and wherein the note is received without receiving theweb page; and, displaying the note behind a session if the session isactive.
 50. The program code of claim 49 wherein the function ofreceiving a note comprises the function of automatically initiating arequest to receive the note.
 51. A method performed at a contentrecipient comprising: executing first program code at the contentrecipient so as to receive a note from a content provider, wherein thenote is an element of a web page, wherein the note is receivedseparately from the web page, wherein the note contains content, andwherein the note has a title bar, menu button, and a display area; and,executing second program code at the content recipient so as to displaythe note behind a session if the session is active.
 52. The method ofclaim 51 wherein the executing of first program code at the contentrecipient so as to receive a note comprises executing the first programcode so as to automatically initiate a request to receive the note. 53.A method performed at a content recipient comprising: executing firstprogram code at the content recipient so as to receive content from acontent provider; executing second program code at the content recipientso as to display the content behind active session; and, executing thirdprogram code at the content recipient so as to visibly display thecontent to a user by automatically burning the content through theactive session so that a border is provided between the content and theactive session and so that material layered below the active session isin view through the border.